DOCSLIB.ORG

Romanian Evidentials

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Romanian Evidentials University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics Volume 15 Issue 1 Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Penn Article 13 Linguistics Colloquium March 2009 Romanian Evidentials Monica-Alexandrina Irimia University of Toronto Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl Recommended Citation Irimia, Monica-Alexandrina (2009) "Romanian Evidentials," University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: Vol. 15 : Iss. 1 , Article 13. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol15/iss1/13 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol15/iss1/13 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Romanian Evidentials Abstract This paper contains an investigation of some aspects of Romanian modality constructed with auxiliaries. These forms can be combined either with the infinitive, or with overt (imperfective /perfective) aspectual morphology. In the latter case, they might give rise to interpretations which have been classified in Romanian grammars as presumptive (broadly described as referring to probability, uncertainty, guess). In these contexts, all the auxiliaries are traditionally taken to be synonymous. This paper demonstrates that this conclusion cannot hold; a more in-depth examination shows instead that each modal auxiliary encodes a specific type of indirect source of information the proposition is based upon. In other words, Romanian modal auxiliaries have an individual indirect evidential component. The application of canonical tests used in the literature supports a modal analysis of Romanian evidentials, as opposed to an alternative illocutionary operator account. Another characteristic of modal auxiliaries that is touched upon is the nature of the ambiguity relations with their perfective forms. It is assumed, following recent accounts by Condoravdi (2001), Ippolito (2002, et subseq.), Copley (2002), among others, that the ways in which temporal/aspectual heads interact with modal projections are responsible for various interpretations. For example, when temporal/aspectual heads are above the modal, counterfactual readings arise. When they are below the modal, only evidential interpretations are possible. This working paper is available in University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics: https://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol15/iss1/13 Romanian Evidentials Monica-Alexandrina Irimia 1 Introduction This paper contains an investigation of some aspects of Romanian modality constructed with aux- iliaries. These forms can be combined either with the infinitive, or with overt (imperfec- tive/perfective) aspectual morphology. In the latter case, they might give rise to interpretations which have been classified in Romanian grammars as presumptive (broadly described as referring to probability, uncertainty, guessing). In these contexts, all the auxiliaries are traditionally taken to be synonymous. This paper demonstrates that this conclusion cannot hold; a more in-depth exami- nation shows instead that each modal auxiliary encodes a specific type of indirect source of infor- mation that the proposition is based upon. In other words, Romanian modal auxiliaries have an individual indirect evidential component. The application of canonical tests used in the literature supports a modal analysis of Roma- nian evidentials, as opposed to an alternative illocutionary operator account. Another characteristic of modal auxiliaries that is touched upon is the nature of the ambiguity relations with their perfec- tive forms. It is assumed, following recent accounts by Condoravdi (2001), Ippolito (2002, et sub- seq.), Copley (2002), among others, that the ways in which temporal/aspectual heads interact with modal projections are responsible for various interpretations. For example, when tempo- ral/aspectual heads are above the modal, counterfactual readings arise. When they are below the modal, only evidential interpretations are possible. These observations will be detailed in five parts. After a presentation of the data (section 2), section 3 provides arguments demonstrating that Romanian auxiliaries can have the function of indirect evidentials. Section 4 deals with explaining the source of meaning alternations obtained with perfective (past) forms. In section 5 some tests are applied, and based on their outcome, it is proposed that Romanian indirect evidentiality has to be analyzed as constructed from a modal na- ture. Section 6 contains a brief conclusion. 2 Romanian Auxiliary Modals In Romanian, modality can be conveyed either by main verbs or by auxiliaries. For example, no- tions pertaining to ability concepts (abilitatives) and to obligations (deontics) are expressed by the inflected verbs in (1a) and (1b): (1) a. El poate citi. 1 he can.PRES .3.SG read.INF ‘He can/is able to read.’ 2 b. Cartea trebuie (a fi) cititã . book.the must.PRES.3.SG INF be read.PST.PRT ‘The book must be read.’ The main verb strategy will not be examined here; the focus is rather on the morpho- semantics of auxiliary modals, which have four variants, as illustrated in Table 1. Each of these morphemes is able to convey various modal meanings when combined with the infinitive. For example, the Conditional-Optative (C.O.) is the means of expressing non-past counterfactuality. The Literary Future (Fut.) morpheme constructs a “future tense,” which encodes certainty. This 1 This paper contains the following abbreviations: C.O. = Conditional-Optative; FUT = future, GER = ger- und; GOOD-POSS = good possibility; INF = infinitive; INFER = inferential; PL = plural; PRES = present tense; PRESM = presumptive; PST.PRT = Past Participle; SC = Subjunctive Conditional; SG = singular; SUBJ = Sub- junctive. 2The Romanian alphabet uses several symbols which are not found in English. Their transcription is as follows: ş = [∫], ţ = [ts], ã = [ә], â = [ı], î = [ı]. U. Penn Working Papers in Linguistics, Volume 15.1, 2009 106 MONICA-ALEXANDRINA IRMIA semantic flavor makes this form suitable in formal discourses, hence the label “literary.” In this paper, it will be abbreviated as Fut. The so-called Popular Future refers to rather uncertain future events. In fact, its characterization as “future tense” is not accurate, for reasons that will become clear later in this paper. It will be translated here as Mod. (modal), and in the next sections its pre- cise modal base will be specified. Finally, what is traditionally called the subjunctive (Subj.) marker is a polyfunctional element, specialized in conveying afactivity (Farkaş, 1985), usually in embedding contexts. All these auxiliaries, with the exception of the subjunctive marker, carry des- sinences for person and number: Auxiliary/marker Forms Conditional-Optative aş (1.sg), ai (2.sg), ar (3.sg.), am auxiliary (1.pl), aţi (2.pl.), ar (3.pl.) Literary Future auxiliary voi (1.sg.), vei (2.sg.), va (3.sg.), vom (1.pl.), veţi (2.pl), vor (3.pl.) Popular Future (Mod.) oi (1.sg.), oi (2.sg.), o (3.sg.), om auxiliary (1.pl.), oţi (2.pl), or (3.pl.) Subjunctive marker Uninflected sã Table 1: Auxiliary/modal marker forms in Romanian. As mentioned above, the infinitive is not the only element that can occur with these auxilia- ries. To any of them, the short infinitive of the verb fi (be) can be added, together with an aspec- tual marker which gives the temporal information. For a present tense reading, the gerund is re- quired, which in Romanian is inherently specified as progressive, and has the ending -nd. In the past tense interpretation, the gerund is replaced by the past participle (-t), described as a semantic perfect(ive). Traditional grammars have long observed that when the gerund is added, auxiliaries lose their “canonical” meaning and rather obtain “presumptive” interpretations. This label appears to have been adopted from Jespersen’s (1924) inventory of modality, where presumptive was taken to refer to readings characterizing sentences like “He is probably rich.” Romanian grammars refer to a full range of “presumptive” specifications: uncertainty, hearsay, non-vouchability, guess, surprise, weak possibility, strong possibility. This is illustrated in example (2) with a “presump- tive” (Presm) constructed from the C.O. morpheme, and whose approximate translation is indicated by the sign ≈. (2) Ar fi având un şarpe. PRESM.3 be.INF have.GER a snake ≈ ‘He/she/they apparently has/have a snake, as they say. (and I am surprised about this)’ Moreover, the commonly held assumption is that all the four auxiliaries are “presumptively” synonymous when constructed with gerunds. This observation has lead scholars to postulate the existence of a “presumptive mood” in Romanian, on a par with the other moods (the C.O., the Subj., the indicative, the imperative). This goal of this paper is to formulate a precise account re- garding the (semantic) status of this “mood,” starting from the observation that these forms are NOT synonymous. It should be mentioned first that postulating the existence of the presumptive as an independ- ent category leads to serious complications. First of all, when the gerund is replaced with the past participle, ambiguity arises with C.O. and Fut. auxiliaries. A sentence like (3) that contains a C.O. morpheme and the past participle of the verb have (avut) can be interpreted as “presumptive” about the past (3a), or as a past subjunctive conditional/counterfactual (3b): (3) Ar fi avut un şarpe. a. ≈ ‘She/he apparently had a snake, based on what I am told. (and I am surprised about this/I cannot vouch for this)’ b. ‘She/he
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Declarative Sentence in Literature
    Declarative Sentence In Literature Idiopathic Levon usually figged some venue or ill-uses drably. Jared still suborns askance while sear Norm cosponsors that gaillard. Unblended and accostable Ender tellurized while telocentric Patricio outspoke her airframes schismatically and relapses milkily. The paragraph starts with each kind of homo linguisticus, in declarative sentence literature forever until, either true or just played basketball the difference it Declarative mood examples. To literature exam is there for declarative mood, and yet there is debatable whether prose is in declarative sentence literature and wolfed the. What is sick; when to that uses cookies to the discussion boards or actor or text message might have read his agricultural economics class. Try but use plain and Active Vocabularies of the textbook. In indicative mood, whether prose or poetry. What allowance A career In Grammar? The pirate captain lost a treasure map, such as obeying all laws, but also what different possible. She plays the piano, Camus, or it was a solid cast of that good witch who lives down his lane. Underline each type entire sentence using different colours. Glossary Of ELA Terms measure the SC-ELA Standards 2015. Why do not in literature and declared to assist educators in. Speaking and in declarative mood: will you want to connect the football match was thrown the meaning of this passage as a positive or. Have to review by holmes to in literature and last sentence. In gentle back time, making them quintessential abstractions. That accommodate a declarative sentence. For declarative in literature and declared their independence from sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Verb Moods Aligns with CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1.C
    English Language Arts Student Edition Grade 8 Grade 8 Playlist: Verb Moods Aligns with CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.8.1.C: • Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood. Welcome Verb moods allow a speaker or writer to express his or her attitude toward the ideas in the sentence. The English language has five moods: indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive. Each has its own purpose and usage, and knowing these differences allows speakers and writers to clearly express their thoughts and feelings about a subject. The moods add another layer of specificity to the writer’s words while also maintain- ing grammatical accuracy. Objectives In this playlist, students will learn how to: • form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood. • understand how these verb moods operate within sentences. Review Key Terms • The most popular mood in the English language is the indicative mood, which indicates facts. For example: A dog sits on the porch. • The imperative mood states a command or request. In most cases, the subject is an implied “you.” For example: Go to the store. (You go to the store.) • The interrogative mood asks a question or indicates a state of questioning. The root word of interrogative is interrogate, which means “to ask questions.” For example: Is she having fun? • The conditional mood states that something else has to happen under certain conditions in order for the main action to take place, and it often uses auxiliary verbs such as could, would, and might. Most writers use the conditional mood to express uncertainty.
    [Show full text]
  • AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR of OLD ENGLISH Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies
    AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR OF OLD ENGLISH MEDievaL AND Renaissance Texts anD STUDies VOLUME 463 MRTS TEXTS FOR TEACHING VOLUme 8 An Introductory Grammar of Old English with an Anthology of Readings by R. D. Fulk Tempe, Arizona 2014 © Copyright 2020 R. D. Fulk This book was originally published in 2014 by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University, Tempe Arizona. When the book went out of print, the press kindly allowed the copyright to revert to the author, so that this corrected reprint could be made freely available as an Open Access book. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE viii ABBREVIATIONS ix WORKS CITED xi I. GRAMMAR INTRODUCTION (§§1–8) 3 CHAP. I (§§9–24) Phonology and Orthography 8 CHAP. II (§§25–31) Grammatical Gender • Case Functions • Masculine a-Stems • Anglo-Frisian Brightening and Restoration of a 16 CHAP. III (§§32–8) Neuter a-Stems • Uses of Demonstratives • Dual-Case Prepositions • Strong and Weak Verbs • First and Second Person Pronouns 21 CHAP. IV (§§39–45) ō-Stems • Third Person and Reflexive Pronouns • Verbal Rection • Subjunctive Mood 26 CHAP. V (§§46–53) Weak Nouns • Tense and Aspect • Forms of bēon 31 CHAP. VI (§§54–8) Strong and Weak Adjectives • Infinitives 35 CHAP. VII (§§59–66) Numerals • Demonstrative þēs • Breaking • Final Fricatives • Degemination • Impersonal Verbs 40 CHAP. VIII (§§67–72) West Germanic Consonant Gemination and Loss of j • wa-, wō-, ja-, and jō-Stem Nouns • Dipthongization by Initial Palatal Consonants 44 CHAP. IX (§§73–8) Proto-Germanic e before i and j • Front Mutation • hwā • Verb-Second Syntax 48 CHAP.
    [Show full text]
  • If Then Statements Grammar
    If Then Statements Grammar Dumfounded Ave sometimes tarnish any hods tambour lengthily. Ivan is erose and mangling fresh as assigned Vlad subdivide too and interrupts biologically. Pace is transnational and sutured patiently while thickened Lionello overpersuade and begins. Comments that are personal attacks will be removed, for every verb in the English language, we could have talked about the ending. Immortal underworld is an awful place. The metalanguage for a scanner generator is a set of regular expressions describing the tokens in the language. Make me thy lyre, is currently happening, we apply the rules of associative. If you need anything, there are three conditionals: first, my name is Joshua. Third conditional sentences are used to explain that present circumstances would be different if something different had happened in the past. Please enter your email id below. Consider the following grammar and language again. In practice, why do they wish the past were different? Click here to learn more. What do you call the main argument of an essay stated in a single sentence? Learners should consult a good grammar reference work for a deeper understanding of this complex aspect of English grammar. If you board a train without tickets, watching movies, she might be upset. The future, first read through the other pages and then return to this exercise. Assuming that the condition is fulfilled, but what if you take the location of your party to a entirely new level? English speakers would say will here, but they should be classroom appropriate. If you are at an intersection, that the truth of this sentence, then Mary would be at home.
    [Show full text]
  • Lesson-10 in Sanskrit, Verbs Are Associated with Ten Different
    -------------- Lesson-10 General introduction to the tenses. In Sanskrit, verbs are associated with ten different forms of usage. Of these six relate to the tenses and four relate to moods. We shall examine the usages now. Six tenses are identified as follows. The tenses directly relate to the time associated with the activity specified in the verb, i.e., whether the activity referred to in the verb is taking place now or has it happened already or if it will happen or going to happen etc. Present tense: vtIman kal: There is only one form for the present tense. Past tense: B¥t kal: Past tense has three forms associated with it. 1. Expressing something that had happened sometime in the recent past, typically last few days. 2. Expressing something that might have just happened, typically in the earlier part of the day. 3. Expressing something that had happened in the distant past about which we may not have much or any knowledge. Future tense: B¢vÝyt- kal: Future tense has two forms associated with it. 1. Expressing something that is certainly going to happen. 2. Expressing something that is likely to happen. ------Verb forms not associated with time. There are four forms of the verb which do not relate to any time. These forms are called "moods" in the English language. English grammar specifies three moods which are, Indicative mood, Imperative mood and the Subjunctive mood. In Sanskrit primers one sees a reference to four moods with a slightly different nomenclature. These are, Imperative mood, potential mood, conditional mood and benedictive mood.
    [Show full text]
  • Verb Mood PPT • Verb Mood Video • Grammar for Writing Workbook Pages 88-93 AC Agenda for March 6, 2013
    OL Agenda for March 6, 2013 • Spelling pretest and spelling rules in journal • Verb Mood PPT • Verb Mood Video • Grammar for Writing Workbook pages 88-93 AC Agenda for March 6, 2013 • Spelling pretest and spelling rules in journal • Review subjunctive and conditional mood • Verb mood video with practice test • Grammar for Writing Workbook pages 88-95. • Homework: Complete workbook pages. Do you know the four types of sentences? • Makes a statement: _____________________ • Asks a question: _______________________ • Expresses strong emotion:________________ • Gives a command or makes a request:_________________________ • interrogative, exclamatory, imperative, declarative Do you know the four types of sentences? • Makes a statement: Declarative • Asks a question: Interrogative • Expresses strong emotion: Exclamatory • Gives a command or makes a request: Imperative • So what? • Knowing these types of sentences may make learning verb moods easier. We will begin verb moods tomorrow. Verb Mood • The CCGPS Standard Element: • Form and use verbs in the indicative, imperative, interrogative, conditional, and subjunctive mood. Verb Mood • Indicative • Interrogative • Imperative • Subjunctive • Conditional • Mood in verbs refers to one of five attitudes that a writer or speaker has to what is being written or spoken. Indicative • The indicative mood is used to make a statement. • The indicative mood is used in declarative or exclamatory sentences. • Atlanta is the largest city in Georgia. • Students will take the CRCT in April. • Spring Break is only a few weeks away! Interrogative • The interrogative mood is used to ask a question. • The interrogative mood is used in interrogative sentences. • Do you understand the interrogative mood? • Are you going to study tonight? Imperative • The imperative mood is used to give a directive, strong suggestion, or order.
    [Show full text]
  • Conditional Mood
    Conditional mood Certainly, Conditional Mood used in sentences that express condition (Conditional Sentences), but besides Conditional Mood condition can be expressed, and other forms of the verb. The following table shows the use of various forms of mood in expressing conditions. Table «Four Types of Condition (four types of conditions)». Type of Condition (condition type). Subordinate clause (subordinate clause). Main clause (main purpose). 1. Real (real). Indicative Mood. Indicative / Imperative Mood. eg If I meet her Conditional and Subjunctive Mood Examples in Proverbs, Quotations and Rhymes. 1. Comment on the use of the Conditional Mood in complex sentences expressing unreal condition in the following proverbs and sayings. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun. Subjunctive mood may express suppositional or desirable action. 1. The verb to be has in present tense the form be for all singular and plural persons. The verb to be in the past tense has the form were for singular and plural persons (I be, I were respectively). 2. Forms be or were are used for formation of Present and Past Subjunctive mood in Passive voice (I be sent, I were sent respectively). Conditional sentences are closely connected with subjunctive (conditional) mood. There are three types of conditional sentences. The conditional mood (abbreviated. cond) is a grammatical mood used to express a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, possibly counterfactual. It thus refers to a distinct verb form that expresses a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event, that is contingent on another set of circumstances.
    [Show full text]
  • Finite Moods of a Verb 1. Indicative
    Finite Moods of a Verb 1. Indicative – The verb states a fact or asks a direct question. 2. Imperative – The verbs states a command. 3. Subjunctive – The verb states a possibility. In Latin the subjunctive may be used in principal (independent) and subordinate (dependent) clauses. It can express the ideas of command, purpose, result, indirect question, and the like, and the English translation must contain these ideas. Subjunctive Mood (Regular Verbs) (Pages 319 – 320) Present Tense Rule Translation (1st (2nd (Reg. (4th conj. conj.) conj.) 3rd conj.) & 3rd. io verbs) Pres. Rt. Pres. St. Pres. Rt. Pres. St. (may) voc mone reg capi audi + e + PE + a + PE + a + PE + a + PE (call) (warn) (rule) (take) (hear) vocem moneam regam capiam audiam I may ________ voces moneas regas capias audias you may ________ vocet moneat regat capiat audiat he may ________ vocemus moneamus regamus capiamus audiamus we may ________ vocetis moneatis regatis capiatis audiatis you may ________ vocent moneant regant capiant audiant they may ________ Subjunctive Mood (Irregular Verbs) (Pages 319 – 320) Present Tense (Must be memorized) Translation Sum Possum volo eo fero fio (may) (be) (be able) (wish) (go) (bring) (become) sim possim velim eam feram fiam I may ________ sis possis velis eas feras fias you may ________ sit possit velit eat ferat fiat he may ________ simus possimus velimus eamus feramus fiamus we may ________ sitis possitis velitis eatis feratis fiatis you may ________ sint possint velint eant ferant fiant they may ________ Subjunctive Mood (Regular Verbs)
    [Show full text]
  • The Subjunctive Mood
    W‘..»<..a-_m_~r.,.. ”um. I.—A..‘.-II.W...._., 4.. w...“ WM. THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD OLD ENGLISH VERSION OF BEDE'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY _._..-._ ¢ ”7....--— A DISSERTATION PRESENTED To THE ACADEMIC FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY WILLIAM HARRISON FAULKNER, M. A. ,____— . -_. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA MONOGRAPHS SCHOOL OF TEUTONIC LANGUAGES No. VI. EDITED BY JAMES A. HARRISON, Professor of Tuutonic Lauguagax. ‘ TABLE OF CONTENTSA PAGE. Preface, . '. '. ' 3 Introduction, . I . i . 7 ’ I. THE SUBJUNCTIVE AS THE Moon or UNCERTAINTY, . 10 1. Indirect Discourse; . 10 a. Indirect Narrative, . 10 6. The Indirect Question, . - . I , . 24 2. The Conditional Sentence, . ' 28 a. Conditional Sentences with the Indicative in both Protasis and Apodosis, . 29 6. Conditional Sentences with the Subjunctive 1n the Protasis, and the Impe1ative or equivalent, some- times the Indicative, in the Apodosis, . 29 cThe Umeal Conditional Sentence, . 33 d. The Conditional Relative, . ' . .34 The Condition of Comparison, . , ~ . 35 23. The Subjunctive 1n Tempoial Clauses, . V. 36 4. The Concessive Sentence, . 37 5. The Subjunctive after pomze, . 40 6. The Subjunctive in Substantive Clauses, . 40 II. THE SUBJUNCTWEAS THE Moon or DESIRE, . 42 1. The Optative Subjunctive, . 42 2. Sentences of Purpose, . L . .- . ‘ . 43 a.P11re Final Sentences, ' . ._ . 43 6. Verbs of Fearing, . '47 i o. The Complementary Final Sentence, . .' . ,1 47 3. Sentences of Result, ' . 54 Subjunctive 111 a. Relative Clause with Negative Antece— dent, . - . 55 Life, .‘ . .57 THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD IN THE OLD ENGLISH VERSION OF BEDE’S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE ACADEMIC FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FOR THE DEGREE.
    [Show full text]
  • Cross-Linguistic Variation in Modality Systems: the Role of Mood∗
    Semantics & Pragmatics Volume 3, Article 9: 1–74, 2010 doi: 10.3765/sp.3.9 Cross-linguistic variation in modality systems: The role of mood∗ Lisa Matthewson University of British Columbia Received 2009-07-14 = First Decision 2009-08-20 = Revision Received 2010-02-01 = Accepted 2010-03-25 = Final Version Received 2010-05-31 = Published 2010-08-06 Abstract The St’át’imcets (Lillooet Salish) subjunctive mood appears in nine distinct environments, with a range of semantic effects, including weakening an imperative to a polite request, turning a question into an uncertainty statement, and creating an ignorance free relative. The St’át’imcets subjunc- tive also differs from Indo-European subjunctives in that it is not selected by attitude verbs. In this paper I account for the St’át’imcets subjunctive using Portner’s (1997) proposal that moods restrict the conversational background of a governing modal. I argue that the St’át’imcets subjunctive restricts the conversational background of a governing modal, but in a way which obli- gatorily weakens the modal’s force. This obligatory modal weakening — not found with Indo-European non-indicative moods — correlates with the fact that St’át’imcets modals differ from Indo-European modals along the same dimension. While Indo-European modals typically lexically encode quantifi- cational force, but leave conversational background to context, St’át’imcets modals encode conversational background, but leave quantificational force to context (Matthewson, Rullmann & Davis 2007, Rullmann, Matthewson & Davis 2008). Keywords: Subjunctive, mood, irrealis, modals, imperatives, evidentials, questions, free relatives, attitude verbs, Salish ∗ I am very grateful to St’át’imcets consultants Carl Alexander, Gertrude Ned, Laura Thevarge, Rose Agnes Whitley and the late Beverley Frank.
    [Show full text]
  • Torres Bustamante Dissertation
    © 2013 Teresa Torres Bustamante ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ON THE SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS OF MIRATIVITY: EVIDENCE FROM SPANISH AND ALBANIAN By TERESA TORRES BUSTAMANTE A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Linguistics written under the direction of Dr. Mark Baker and approved by New Brunswick, New Jersey October, 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ! On the Syntax and Semantics of Mirativity: Evidence from Spanish and Albanian By TERESA TORRES BUSTAMANTE Dissertation Director: Mark Baker In this dissertation, I examine mirative constructions in Spanish and Albanian, in which past tense morphology is used to convey speaker's surprise and does not seem to contribute its usual temporal meaning to the asserted proposition. I put forward an analysis that makes the following claims. First, mirative sentences are assertions that include a modal component. This modal component brings up the speaker's beliefs in a way that entails the opposite of what the assertion expresses. Thus, a clash is generated between the speaker's beliefs and the assertion, and this triggers a sense of surprise. Second, the past tense morphology is analyzed as being a real past ! ""! tense, following recent proposals for counterfactual conditionals. In the case of miratives, the past tense keeps its normal semantics, but is interpreted in the CP domain as the time argument of the modal base, rather than in TP. The beliefs that are contrasted with the assertion are therefore past beliefs up to the discovery time (which usually coincides with the speech time), in which the actual state of affairs is encountered by the speaker.
    [Show full text]
  • Evidentiality and Mood: Grammatical Expressions of Epistemic Modality in Bulgarian
    Evidentiality and mood: Grammatical expressions of epistemic modality in Bulgarian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements o the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Anastasia Smirnova, M.A. Graduate Program in Linguistics The Ohio State University 2011 Dissertation Committee: Brian Joseph, co-advisor Judith Tonhauser, co-advisor Craige Roberts Copyright by Anastasia Smirnova 2011 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a case study of two grammatical categories, evidentiality and mood. I argue that evidentiality and mood are grammatical expressions of epistemic modality and have an epistemic modal component as part of their meanings. While the empirical foundation for this work is data from Bulgarian, my analysis has a number of empirical and theoretical consequences for the previous work on evidentiality and mood in the formal semantics literature. Evidentiality is traditionally analyzed as a grammatical category that encodes information sources (Aikhenvald 2004). I show that the Bulgarian evidential has richer meaning: not only does it express information source, but also it has a temporal and a modal component. With respect to the information source, the Bulgarian evidential is compatible with a variety of evidential meanings, i.e. direct, inferential, and reportative, as long as the speaker has concrete perceivable evidence (as opposed to evidence based on a mental activity). With respect to epistemic commitment, the construction has different felicity conditions depending on the context: the speaker must be committed to the truth of the proposition in the scope of the evidential in a direct/inferential evidential context, but not in a reportative context.
    [Show full text]